Little Sizi came to my house and became the family's darling, and Li Shimin got anxious.

The little princess's smile vanished instantly.

"Wobu wants it."

The little princess shook her head like a rattle-drum, "I don't want to get fat! I haven't eaten yet!"

"We can still eat when we get back," Li Lizhi stood up and took her hand. "Listen to me, Sizi, we have to go back now."

"No, no, no!" Sizi shook off her hand and hid behind Li Yinxun, who had just brought out the dumplings, only her little head peeking out. "Sister, save me! I don't want to go back!"

Li Lizhi adopted the authority of an elder sister, "Sizi, come here. We must go back immediately. We have something very important to tell Father and Mother."

"Wobuding!" The little princess grabbed Li Yinxun's clothes, "I want seven meals."

Li Lizhi reached out to grab her, and the little princess screamed and shrank behind Li Yinxun.

Li Lizhi failed to catch the rhinoceros, her hand remaining suspended in mid-air.

She looked at her younger sister, who was hiding behind Li Yinxun with only her eyes showing, and felt both anxious and angry. Suddenly, she raised her hand.

"If you don't come over here, your older sister is going to hit you!"

The little princess screamed "Wah!" and clung tightly to Li Yinxun's leg.

Li Yinxun quickly placed the dumpling bowl on the table next to her and turned around to protect Sizi behind her.

"Hey, hey, don't rush, don't rush," she said to Li Lizhi. "Lizhi, don't panic. Didn't we agree that you should calm down before going back?"

Li Lizhi's hand was still raised, her eyes glaring at the ox behind Li Yinxun, her chest heaving.

"elder sister……"

"I know, but that's precisely why you can't rush back. What are you going to say when you go back like this? Are you going to just blurt out which day...which day you...you know? Your mother's health isn't good to begin with; how can she handle that?"

Li Lizhi was stunned.

The raised hand slowly lowered.

"Let's eat first." Li Yinxun pulled Sizi out from behind and carried her to a high stool. "The dumplings are getting cold. After you finish this meal, I promise Sizi will take you home. It won't make a difference if it's just a little while, okay?"

Li Lizhi gave in when she saw Sizi already holding a small spoon and staring longingly at the dumplings.

Li Lizhi stared at the bowl, but her gaze was empty.

The little princess ate heartily, her little mouth stuffed full, and she even used a spoon to scoop up soup.

Chengyang ate in small bites, glancing at Li Lizhi every now and then.

"Sister, aren't you seven?" the little princess asked, swallowing a dumpling.

Li Lizhi seemed not to hear.

"Big sister!" the little princess raised her voice.

Li Lizhi suddenly came to her senses, glanced at Sizi, and then looked down at the dumplings in the bowl.

She picked one up, put it in her mouth, chewed it twice, and then stopped.

"Sister," Li Lizhi's voice was hoarse, "that book...is everything written in it true?"

Li Yinxun was drinking soup when she heard this, and the spoon stopped at her lips.

She looked at Li Lizhi.

Li Lizhi's face was still pale, her eyes fixed on her, waiting for an answer.

"It's true," Li Yinxun put down her spoon and spoke slowly, "I'm not some fairy, but an ordinary person from several hundred years later in the Tang Dynasty."

"So..." Li Lizhi choked up, "My mother passed away in the Lizheng Hall in June of the seventh year of Zhenguan, is that true?"

"Is it true that I died of illness in the fourteenth year of the Zhenguan era?"

"Sizi..."

Li Lizhi couldn't finish her sentence; she couldn't continue.

That's how it's recorded in history books.

Li Lizhi sat there, motionless.

It felt like I'd been punched in the stomach; it was dull and I couldn't breathe.

Sizi is so young...

"Impossible." Li Lizhi shook her head. "My mother is just frail, and the imperial physician has been treating her. I... I'm fine too, how could this be?"

"Lizhi," Li Yinxun patted her shoulder, "that's history that has already happened. For you, it's the future; for us, it's the past."

"I don't believe it!" Li Lizhi stood up abruptly, the chair legs scraping against the floor with a screeching sound.

The little princess was startled, and the dumpling fell back into the bowl.

Chengyang also put down her chopsticks and looked at her sister uneasily.

"It must be a mistake!" Li Lizhi's chest heaved, her eyes reddening. "You must be lying to me."

Although she said that, Li Lizhi had already confirmed in her heart that it was the future of the Tang Dynasty.

Since the beginning of this year, my mother has been bedridden and needs to stay in bed for long periods of time.

If Sizi hadn't suddenly disappeared and brought back so many new and interesting things, Mother wouldn't have been able to get out of bed.

"Big sister?" The little princess climbed down from the chair and walked to her side. "Big sister, did you cry?"

Li Lizhi held the little princess in her arms, but no tears fell.

Li Yinxun sighed. Thirteen years old is still just a child.

"Lizhi," Li Yinxun placed her hand on her shoulder, "calm down first, that's history."

"What do you mean?"

"That's a history without me. Now that Sizi can come here and bring you here, and you can buy things from us... maybe things will be different now."

Li Lizhi looked at her, something flickering in her eyes.

"Go back first." Li Yinxun patted her shoulder. "Give the book to your parents. Isn't this an open-book exam? Are you afraid it will turn out like the history books?"

Li Lizhi took a few deep breaths and looked at Sizi and Chengyang.

Her two younger sisters were looking up at her with worried expressions.

"Sizi," Li Lizhi said, her voice still hoarse, "Let's go back. Now."

The little princess pouted, about to say no again.

But when she saw Li Lizhi's eyes, they were red, and there was an expression in them that she had never seen before.

The little princess swallowed her words, lowered her head, and whispered, "Oh."

"Chengyang, have you finished eating?" Li Li asked.

Chengyang nodded quickly: "I'm done eating."

"Okay." Li Lizhi stood up, picked up the paper bag that had been on her lap, hugged it tightly, and said, "Sister, see you tomorrow."

"Okay, see you tomorrow."

"Don't get too excited when you get back, talk to them properly," Li Yinxun concluded.

……

An unusual stillness permeated the Lizheng Hall.

As Li Lizhi and her two younger sisters emerged from the side hall, her heart inexplicably tightened, pounding heavily and rapidly.

Just then, the palace maid, Green Ivy, rushed in from outside the hall, looking flustered.

"Your Highness..." Green Ivy hurriedly gave a half-bow, her voice trembling, "You're finally back! Her Majesty the Empress..."

"Something happened to Mother?" Li Lizhi's pupils shrank suddenly.

"Her Majesty the Empress just experienced a sudden dizziness; it seems her old ailment... her qi deficiency has relapsed. The imperial physicians are treating her inside."

As soon as she finished speaking, Li Lizhi felt a deafening roar in her ears. Forgetting all the rules, she ran wildly toward the main hall.

Chengyang and Sizi were frightened by this scene and could only hold tightly to each other's clothes, stumbling and following behind.

The inner hall was so quiet you could hear a pin drop.

Empress Zhangsun lay flat on the couch, her eyes closed, her face even paler than usual.

Beside the bed, the imperial physician knelt to take the patient's pulse, his brows slightly furrowed.

Li Shimin stood stiffly to the side with his hands behind his back, his face ashen and his jaw taut.

"Mother!" Li Lizhi rushed into the inner hall and knelt down by the bed.

Empress Zhangsun slowly opened her eyes, a gentle light appearing in them, and smiled weakly: "Lizhi is back."

"Mother, where do you feel uncomfortable?" Li Lizhi tightly held the cold hand, her voice trembling.

"It's alright," Empress Zhangsun said, not wanting her daughter to be too frightened. "Did you enjoy your outing? And what about the fairy...? Did you reach an agreement? Did she consent?"